A former Michigan resident who directed a $3.3 million psychotherapy fraud scheme, was sentenced today to 87 months in prison, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade of the Eastern District of Michigan, Special Agent in Charge Paul M. Abbate of the FBI Detroit Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG) Detroit Office.
Gerald R. Funderburg Jr., 35, of Syracuse, New York, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy III in the Eastern District of Michigan. In addition to his prison term, Funderburg was ordered to pay $1,453,064.59 in restitution.
According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, from November 2006 through April 2011, Funderburg owned and controlled Funderburg Clinical & Community Services (FCCS), which he used to submit false claims to Medicare for purported psychotherapy services.
Funderburg admitted that he used the Medicare information and identities of hundreds of Medicare beneficiaries without their consent to submit claims for psychotherapy services that were not actually provided. Funderburg also admitted that he used personal information of licensed social workers without their consent to obtain Medicare provider numbers in their names, which he then used to submit false claims to Medicare for services purportedly provided by the same social workers. The social workers, however, did not provide the care for which Funderburg billed Medicare.
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